The announcement that YouTube (GOOG) is going to start offering ads via its videos and paying contributors a percentage of the profits, has started a lot of conversation on how it may affect the viewers.
One of the ideas thrown out by Chad Hurley is that they may start to offer 3 second pre-roll ads before the videos start. A recent poll by Harris shows that if that is what happens, 42 percent of those viewing will visit the site less often, with another 31 percent saying that it would be a lot less often.
Of course this is the risk that YouTube took when building their base. As Hurley said in a recent BBC interview, it's been the key to growing the site so fast. The problem is that the cost of growing so fast is that it has also created certain expectations for the users.
Aongus Burke, senior research manager of Harris Interactive's media and entertainment practice, said "... those who are accustomed to finding and watching everything for free at YouTube may have developed a different set of expectations for the site."
It seems to me that no matter what type of data is released, YouTube will have to try several different types of advertising to see what will be acceptable to users. There's no way that they are now part of a public company that they can simply let things go on as before. Those days are over, as we'll soon find out.
I have a feeling that any poll that is conducted concerning ads on YouTube will probably come back with the same results, based upon the way the Web site was built with no marketing interference. Now that it has changed, there probably won't be too many people happy about it at first.
Another side of it is that there probably won't be across-the-board marketing as some of the content wouldn't be appealing for the vast majority of advertisers. They may help to calm down some of those that will probably be angered at the beginning of the changes. It shows the tough problem that the company faces and that it will take a lot of experimentation and adjusting before they find some middle ground that everyone will be happy with.
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